


Vella - Gaining more than life

by SassyNightCat



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-28
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2018-04-17 17:24:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4675115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SassyNightCat/pseuds/SassyNightCat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Half-orc assassin Vella tells her story about how she came on the path that became her life.<br/>It starts at the beginning, when she still was an orphaned urchin in the slums of the big city and progresses to who she came to be.<br/>A killer for hire, a weapon to be used.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vella - Gaining more than life

Being an orphan in a city where it is considered charity to not step on the beggars on the street is rough. You learn to stick together, to single out victims that can help you to keep one step above the bottom peg of the ladder that is society. You learn to crawl over corpses to survive, and that morals are a thing of luxury.

Take care of your own, and keep together as long as it keeps you alive. If you find a good crew that will risk their neck for you, then you better well be ready to risk your neck for them.  
If they aren't idiots, then you can risk their necks for you as well.  
It is all depending on what will help you, how you can help you. The Gods knows no one else will.

That was the code of my life. I had my crew, we were 6 kids that looked after each other and kept each others backs. The oldest, Jona, was the boss. He had survived the longest after all, so he knew the most.  
I won't sugar coat it, we stole, robbed and did what ever it took for us to survive. I had never felt what it felt like to not wake up with my stomach aching from hunger, and every stranger I saw was a possible meal ticket, or death sentence. I was willing to take that gamble all day every day as long as it could keep me and the crew alive.  
We were vermin.

The day it changed for me was the day we took ourselves water over our heads. Jona had staked out a couple of adults that seemed to have quite a lot of coin. They weren't local to our neighbourhood so we figured we could rob them and maybe have food and a roof over our head for a week with their money.  
Shit never plans out though. Especially not when you have a 10 year old doing the planning.  
The strangers were slavers, and they too saw a nice opportunity when a pack of feral kids attacked them in a narrow alley. They killed Jona. A sword through his gut.  
The rest of them they rounded up.  
Me? I got away by the skin of my back.  
I had sensed the turning of the battle, I saw when they gutted Jona and I had started running for it maybe five seconds before the others. That was all it took.  
That and the slavers probably thought a half-orc kid wasn't worth the trouble.

I saw them drag of my friends, my family, and kick Jonas dead body as they past. Chuckling.  
It got me mad, I was fine with that we had lost. That we had done a stupid move and had to pay for it as the law of the lawless states. I would not take that they mocked our loss though.  
It was a stupid though in my head really, something telling me that we hadn't lost as long as I could free the crew and avenge Jona.  
These fuckers would pay for what they had done.  
So I followed them, through the streets out of the territory I knew as home. Into other parts of town, nicer parts of town. I kept to the shadows, made sure that paid me any notice.

By nightfall they arrived with my friends to a warehouse of sorts, and I entered through a cracked open door on the side. The inside was hot as a furnace, probably why the guards had left the door cracked open. To let in some air.  
There was cages everywhere with people and beasts from all over the place. Most in catatonic silence, a few crying. I used every skill I had used on the streets to make my way through out the warehouse and to find my friends. It didn't even appear to me that I should free the other prisoners.  
I was a selfish git after all, only there to free my crew and kill those who had hurt us.

I could hear Frakka, one of the other girls, scream and holler further in. She always had a mouth that could make sailors blush, and she was sure using it at that moment. I followed it for maybe five minutes until it just stopped. Sharply. I knew they had either knocked her out or killed her. Probably killed her, since they had killed Jona. It didn't matter though. I was close by, I knew what room the bastards were in.

I would like to point out that I probably was at the age of... eight or nine years old when all this accrued. So forgive my foolish actions which now will follow;  
I had taken Jonas knife when I set out on this hunt. I now grabbed that knife tightly and barged into the room stabbing it into the first taller than me person I saw.  
I was lucky, and stabbed one of the slavers in the thigh severing an artery. I had the advantage of surprise, but it didn't really help that much.  
They were more experienced, more in numbers and stronger than me.  
I didn't even notice my friends, I was so busy not being cut to pieces. Like you do with a wild animal they soon cornered me, and I was sure I was about to become very very dead when a wave of hot air blew up in my face and the slavers started screaming.  
My brain registered that they were on fire. As were all my friends.  
Strangers words filled the air, and a great man in shining armour cut down the slavers roaring out the door for someone to put out the fire because 'there are kids in here'.  
I was petrified in confusion rather than fear, and the armoured man just went past me up for a couple of stairs, calling back to who ever he was talking to that he would make sure 'the filthy fucker' didn't escape.  
He didn't see that one of the slavers had gotten back up, and was coming up behind him.  
I did.  
I reacted, I still can't say why, by diving in behind the slaver and cutting his right tendon. His scream made the armoured one turn his head back down the stairs.  
I don't know if he was surprised to see us there, because the slaver had stabbed me by then. One last infuriated stab as he fell back over me, and I returned the favour to the best of my ability. I even think I sank my tusks into his face in a feverish attempt to get loose and save myself from his dagger and crushing weight.  
It was hard though, I was hurting all over and I knew I was bleeding out. I was getting tired, and coordination was getting harder. The weight on top of me disappeared after what felt for like eternity. Could hear voices, but seeing was getting difficult.  
”Em, hurry up! He will get away!”  
”Give me a bloody second! Radovic! Radovic get your ass here! She is dying!”  
I could hear more steps, a shadow was leaning over me, I think it told me to hold on. Then there was another shadow and a bright light.  
Soft whispers that pulled me back, a warm feeling from the light that told me that it wasn't my time. Not yet.  
I got my vision back, and I saw a worried adult face looking down on me and firmly saying;  
”You will stay here. We will finish this and then come back for you,”  
I tried to move towards the door. It was instinct, really. I wanted to get out, to safety. I had to find another crew. Mine was dead. I could smell their smoldering bodies. Feel their half congealed blood on my hands as I tried to crawl backwards to not turn my back on the adults.  
The eyes grew stern, and then the voice commanded me to stay.  
I could not do anything but obey.

I don't know how long I sat there. I was starting to think they wouldn't come back, that I would have to sit there until I starved to death. That was not the case though. As suddenly as they had appeared and swooped by me they came back and this person in a crimson robe swept me up in it's arms. I could here the armoured one say question that it intended to take me with, and it replied;  
“She saved your life, she got here and survived, and she is just a kid. We can't just leave her for the guards to find. They will kill her,”  
The last thing I heard before I fell asleep was the armoured one reply 'what ever Em'. I guess that Em then cast a sleep spell, because I hardly would have fallen asleep right there and then by myself.  
I awoke in a bed all alone a few hours later. There was a purse with 10 golden coins under my pillow and a note. I couldn't read so I left the note but clutched the purse in my hand as I nervously ventured outside the room I awoke in.  
There was loud voices and laughter on the floor below me, and as I sneaked closer to the stairs I stood face to face with a barmaid that had the friendliest of smiles.  
“Hi dear, nice to see you awake,” she said and bent down to get on the same level as me “Did you sleep well?”  
“Where am I?” I barked back at her, terrified and out of control.  
She smiled, a smile of pity.  
“The wizard left you here, Em said we were to feed you when you awoke,”  
“Wizard?”  
I was confused. She noted my confusion.  
“Yes, they came carrying you a few hours ago. Em and his friends have already departed I am afraid. Where do you live? I can try to find someone to take you home to your...” she looked at me with some hesitation “Parents?”  
I just looked at her, unsure what to say or do.  
“I live nowhere,” I replied “Here did they go?”  
“I don't know honey. Come, are you hungry? There is a meat stew ready down stairs,”  
I followed her downstairs, I ate their food and even got a mug of warm milk to drink. My brain was racing. I had nowhere to go, no friends to help keep me safe and I was lost in a part of town I had never been in. That person, Em, who I learned was a wizard from the innkeeper, had saved me and brought me here. I owed Em my life.  
I could not for the life of me understand why the wizard had saved me, why it had brought me there nor made sure that they would feed me or left me the coin purse. It was a really childish decision, but instead of just praising the Gods for my luck and get on with my life of petty crime I decided to find this Em.  
I had to thank Em, I thought, and find out why Em had helped.

It took me two days to track down Em and the others. They stayed in a tower, seven stories high and white as the first winter snow. I trembled as I knocked on the huge black front door, wondering what mysteries I would find inside.  
A tall slender man opened, I didn't recognize him before he spoke. It was his voice that had told me to come back to life. He looked very surprised as he looked down on me and then he grinned, and started laughing.  
“Well hello there,” he said trying to stifle his laugh “Fancy seeing you here, little one. What are you doing here?”  
“I...I'm looking for Em. And you. I guess,” I mumbled scratching the gravel under my feet with my toe as I spoke.  
“I see. The Gods works in mysterious ways I see. Well, come in then. I did not expect you to find us,”  
“Well.. I had to ask around...” I replied and hesitantly ventured into the tower.  
It smelled strange, like flowers and freshly dug up dirt. The wooden floors were cleaner than most plates I'd ever seen and the cleric led me through the front room further in.  
“My name is Radovic,” he said “What is your name, little one?”  
“I'm Vella,” I replied and stopped myself from trying to get some shiny looking baubles into my pocket.  
He watched me with immense amusement.  
“Em is in the laboratory, I will show you up”  
We walked up what seemed like a million steps before we came to a huge wooden door and Radovic gently knocked on it and called out;  
“Em, you got a visitor,”  
I could hear shuffling of papers and furniture inside and a confused;  
“A visitor? Who? Is it Bran tell him that the thing is not ready, and that I told him to stop pestering me. If he want unstable hastily done magic he can go talk to the college!”  
“It's not Bran. Open up,”  
There was the rattle of chains, and the door slid up.  
There was Em. It was the first time I really saw the wizard, all clad in red and he stared at me with utter surprise.  
“... you?”  
“She tracked us down apparently,” Radovic said with a grin “Said she wanted to see you,”  
“Really, and why is that?”  
“I wanted to say thanks,” I replied and handed Em the note “and return the paper. Paper is expensive, and I can't read, so I figure you maybe wanted it back,”  
The two stood there, staring at me and my childish intentions. The silence broke first when Em started smiling and said;  
“Well aren't you a nice, and clever, little thing,”  
“I'm a half-orc and a girl. Not a thing,” I hastily replied, even then I was well aware that most see me more as a monster then a fellow humanoid person.  
Em chuckled;  
“I am so sorry if I offended. How did you find us?”  
“Oh, I asked around. It took awhile but here I am,”  
“You asked around? Well well... was it hard?”  
“Not really... you see people see you. With all that red. And the person in armour. The smith thinks that person is quite a dick, so his apprentice pointed me the last bit if I promised to kick the armour one or put itching powder in his armour. I won't though, because he is your friend, I just lied to get the information,”  
“Nifty, isn't she?” Radovic said with a smile “I like her. I'm glad we saved her,”  
Em gave him a nod and looked at me;  
“Did you want anything else? Or are you heading home now?”  
“I...I guess I'm heading away,” I said, feeling a strange sadness in my belly.  
I liked these two. They seemed nice. It had been nice being in this part of town. People seemed less mean here, less starved and desperate.  
Of course I couldn't stay. Who would take in a half-orc orphan here? I didn't even bother to ask. I had been rejected before, I knew the answer.  
“I just wanted to say thanks for saving me,” I said and turned around and headed downstairs and out.  
I walked away before they could say anything, disappeared into the streets as quick as only a lost child can.  
I couldn't find my way back though, I did not know the name of the part of the city I came from. Gutterfield, which was the block that had been my home, was unknown to all here. An insignificant little blot in the enormous slums these people had only heard horror stories from.

People with less then honest intentions soon began to notice the strange half-orc child that had strayed into their domain, and I don't know how or why but one night one of these clubbed me in a back alley. I ended up in a small coffin and was later thrown out on a cold stone floor in front of a huge mean looking man.  
“Here is the kid I told you about. I heard she killed Hansels men, they got a hold of her friends. Guess she is a berserk or something. Don't know shit about orcs really,” the hooded person who had clubbed me said.  
The man smiled, he was missing teeth and looked vile. I was pretty good at judging people already at that age. Comes with growing up on the street. This man was bad news, very bad news.  
“Thank you,” he said to the man and tossed him some coins “She will be fine warm up for some of my men. Ulkan, put her in a cage until the matches are to begin,”  
I tried to break free, but Ulkan was a big troll and scarred like no one I had ever seen before, nor have after. I had no chance, and shortly just hanged limp over his shoulder as he carried me to a cage and tossed me in it. It smelled of piss and sweat in there, and through the darkness I could see other cages further in. The sounds from them made me believe they were filled with animals rather than people. Trying to free myself I tried to pick the lock with a small bone I found in the filth on the floor, but of course it didn't work. You can't pick locks with dead peoples finger bones, unless said finger bone is magic.  
So I sat there awaiting my fate. I don't know how long I sat there. Could have been an hour, could have been days. I slipped into some kind of trance like daze staring into the darkness. There was no reason to panic, I had no way out. Panic would only make things worse.  
I awoke from that state as my cage rattled and started to lift from the floor, I was being hauled up through some kind of trap door. I came up in some sort of an arena, there was blood splattered sand on the floor and a few meters over my head I could see a gallery full of people. They seemed excited, like they were awaiting something.  
“This is no ordinary orc child, ladies and gentlemen,” a booming voice that sounded like the vile man declared “This orc berserker has been found guilty of murder of some of our finest helpers, and will pay for that by entertaining us all in the arena. If she survives I will grant her life and freedom. If she doesn't.... well I guess her debt is paid then,”  
The crowd cheered. I was about to start sobbing, petrified and confused. It had to wait though, I figured, because a tall drow had entered the arena with a sword and shield.  
“Her first opponent will be Drue, who we all remember from last nights fights don't we?”  
They chanted his name. He looked at me with dead eyes and shrugged his shoulders. I turned and ran, but there was no way out. I was trapped with that man and he was coming to kill me.  
I did the only think I could think of. I covered until he got close enough, then a quick tumble and a swift movement with my hand flinging sand up in his eyes. I escaped between his legs and grabbed a dagger he had in his boot on the way.  
There was no backing down. I knew I had to kill to survive. So I scurried up his back and as he flailed and tried to drag me of or punch me I stabbed him, again and again in every opening I could find on his armour. He fell. The crowd roared in excitement.  
I was victorious. For what ever good that would do me.  
“The Orc Child is victorious!” the speaker shouted out “What a sight! A mighty warrior brought down by a child! This, my dear folks, are a true killer!”  
I puked. I was trembling and vomiting. I wasn't a true killer. I had only ever killed one man before, that man in the stairs. The troll came into the arena through a big gate, and dragged Drue's dead body with him. I was left with the dagger I had taken.

I can't remember the rest of that night. I don't want to remember. I survived, that is what is important. I killed more beasts and persons. I was thrown back into the cage with a bowl of porridge and assurance that tomorrow wouldn't be as easy. I've blocked out most of it. I just remember the clinging feeling of unyielding fear and desperation, mixed with a growing sensation of hopelessness.  
The darkness seemed to impose on my very being when I wasn't in the arena fighting for my life. I don't know how long it continued. I could feel myself growing weaker. Nobody tended to my wounds, and I was barley fed. It was a loosing game. I knew that, but I wouldn't just lay down and die. I couldn't. I still thought that maybe one day they would run out of people, set me free.

It was a night like any other, I had been hoisted up into the arena. I had managed to fight myself to a set of ill-fitting leather armour and another dagger by then. I was so tired, I barely watched the doors from which my opponents came. I could hardly bring myself to stand.  
The speaker roared out his words, as usual, but then there was a gasp from the audience. A large thump beside me. I turned my head. That large vile man laid there, dust flying all around him. Something red flattered on the edge of the gallery, followed by a softer thump when Em landed not far away from the big man.  
He looked at me, tried to catch my eye. I stared at him, I felt my legs fold under me and tears well up in my eyes. Just by the mix of concern and anger in his eyes I knew he was to save me. Em had found me, and come for me. It was over. Who could oppose Em?  
“I told you I was looking for a small half-orc child, Rames,” Em growled to the man “And this is you not knowing? I take great opposition to you torturing my people,”  
“Sir! Sir I beg you... I had no idea!” the vile man begged, shivering with fear.  
Em scoffed at him and turned to me.  
“Vella, come here. I'm going to take you away from here, take you home,”  
I never hesitated, I staggered up to him and he mumbled a few words and levitated me up into the gallery. As I was safe with Radovic and the armoured one up there he turned to the audience, eyes aflame with anger.  
“I will not allow her to be hurt, and anyone here tonight will witness what happens to those who anger me. Rames, as a punishment for kidnapping and using her despite knowing she was mine I charge you to fight the arena in her stead. The deal is the same, if you survive, you may have your life and your freedom. If not... well nobody will miss you,”  
The audience gasped once more, a few fainted, and Em disappeared into thin air as the doors opened and a great big bear walked into the arena. Radovic winced a bit and muttered something about it being vile and horrible, but the armoured one shrugged, hoisted me up in his arms and simply said;  
“Time for us to leave,”  
I could hear the terrified screams of fat vile Rames as we left. I cherish that memory to this day. Every last gut wrenching terrified second that he suffered I cherish.  
  
Em was waiting for us outside and the armoured one put me in Ems arms as soon as they were close enough.  
“We should have brought down the guard on them,” he noted with disdain in his voice “And I still don't get why we bothered with this one?”  
“Because we're not villains,” Em replied and put a shielding hand on my shoulder “Are you hurt Vella? Can you walk?”  
I shrugged and mumbled;  
“I'll manage.. Thank you for saving me again...”  
“Come, we will head back home and Radovic will take a look at your sores there,” Em mumbled and took my hand leading me home as if I was any child.  
The armoured one scowled and said;  
“She has been down there for days, Em. She has survived by killing others. This isn't some little harmless kitten you can just bring in. She is a killer,”  
“Oh, will you shut up Fern!?” Em snapped “She is a child. Yes, she is half-orc, yes she has probably spent her life doing crime since no other option has been presented, and yes she killed a bunch of people down there to survive. That does not take away from the fact, that this,” he gestured down at me “Is a child. And at that, an able child in need of guidance. We could, coldheartedly and rather irresponsibly, turn her lose at the world to fend for herself as best as she can. That will produce at best a career criminal with a taste for blood at this point. At worst a mindless beast _Or_ we could offer that guidance that she would need to have her talents be beneficial to society and the betterment of the world,”  
Fern scoffed and walked on up the street, muttering something about grand illusions and mages. Radovic glanced at Em and said;  
“I think it is a good idea. It is the good, righteous thing to do, Em,”  
Em nodded and looked down at me, standing there quite confused about what was happening.  
“Because you don't have a home do you, Vella? No parents that miss you? No relatives to stay with that will teach you a trade?”  
I shook my head. I had no one. Just Em. Possibly Radovic. Fern maybe by extension.  
He nodded to himself and ran a hand through my filthy, tangled and greasy hair.  
“I'll not just give you your life, I'll give you a life. Come, let's go home and get you cleaned up. And fed. You look starved,”  
I nodded and followed him back to the tower. Home. I remember looking at him the whole time we walked that walk home.  
He seemed like a God to me. A God of mercy that had stretched out his hand to me not once, but twice and that I was determined to serve anyway I could. I knew, even then, that the debt I owe to Em, is a debt I will never be able to repay.  
Em did not just give me my life. He gave me my future.  
It was more then I had ever had.


End file.
